The Gap Between The Resorts.

[real mad hatter]

Ok. I don't mean what's the distance between POP and ALL STARS. Ive read that there's a big jump from Value to Moderate in various departments.But I've often read such good reports on moderate resorts that there's not a huge gap between them and deluxe.Yes,and before all you lucky folk that have experienced staying at a deluxe start firing arrows at me.What I'am trying to get at is the extra $$$$$ for your vacation staying at a deluxe worth it,? Or would you be better staying at a moderate and using the $$$$$ for spending money or other things.I will be asked this for sure at my up coming Disney party.The Balcony at a deluxe and theming and location would be my big three differences,but as I have only stayed at moderates I couldn't truly answer that.So what are your views please on this.?

 

[draybook]

There were two things that jumped out at us this past September when we made the jump from Pop to POFQ. #1- The rooms were MUCH more spacious. #2- The resort in general seemed more laid back and quiet. It was a gorgeous place and we can't wait to go back in October.

 

[Figgy1]

This is going to get me in trouble but I'd rather rent a house or condo off sight than stay a a value if that's what my budget allowed that trip. We are open to close types so we don't use the resort except for sleeping. Can't wait to go without the kids to enjoy the resort for a change!

 

[jayhawkmickey]

It depends on what you want from your vacation. We have stayed at POR and Pop and had great times at both. POR is more romantic, quiet, and feels more secluded since the buildings are smaller, but there are more of them. Pop dosn't have the smaller pools, carrage rides, and quaint main building, but it does have better bus service, a good food court, and just about all (if not all) the amenities of the moderate's rooms. The rooms are a little larger and the furniture is nicer, but we are never in the room when we go. My wife and I spend 99% of our time in the parks. We've never even been in a Disney pool. We decided that after our honeymoon at POR we would rather stay the extra few days at Pop with the money we saved at POR. I'm glad we did stay at a moderate for our first stay to make it extra special, and if I had the money I would love to stay at POR again, but we would have to be pretty well off to make that chioce for our family.

 

[toasty]

There's definitely a significant gap between the moderates and the deluxe resorts price-wise, and whether or not that extra money makes sense depends entirely upon how you spend your time, as a PP noted. Our last three trips have all included my daughter who was 2.5, turning 3 and turning 4 at the time, so the proximity of the deluxes (we stayed at the Poly, BLT, BLT on those trips, respectively) and, accordingly, the ability to come and go from the MK and EPCOT with relatively little hassle was worth its weight in gold. There have been times at the end of the night when I've been taking the 10 minute stroll back to BLT from MK and I've looked at the enormous lines to the monorail/buses and said, "That, right there, is why we're staying where we're staying."

With that said, I could certainly envision a situation several years from now when my daughter is older and we're not necessarily coming back for a break in the middle of the day or overly worried about rushing home the moment the fireworks are over. With different priorities, we might find that the added expense of staying in a deluxe is no longer worth it.

 

[Obi]

stayed at Saratoga a couple of times. unlike many, we enjoyed our stay there. I know that staying at a deluxe villa has some perks that, for me and my fam, make it worth it.
the biggest perk that my mom likes is having the washer/dryer in the room. don't have to pack as many clothes, can throw a load in before you head out to a park, put it in the dryer when we come back to take an afternoon break. not as many clothes to wash when we get home from our trip as well.
the thing that I liked about Saratoga is also that it's less crowded. it's a large, spread out, resort. however, I like the fact that not many people will stay there. less crowded on the busses, can enjoy a boat ride and/or nice walk to downtown Disney.
I also like the whirlpool tubs in the rooms too. nice to soak the tired bones in after a long day.
these are just a few things that make it worth it to me. we don't have a lot of money. so, we'll save our money, rent points to make the rooms cheaper and go that route. we're hoping to, MAYBE, eventually become dvc owners. been doing a lot of researching into that.

 

[Skibum1970]

I think that the quiet at the resort goes up by level. I've never stated at the Values but stay at Moderate or Deluxe. From PORS to Contemporary/WL, the deluxes seemed quieter. In reading about the Values, they are a little noisier than the Moderates. Fewer rooms, certainly and a few more perks. Room size felt about the same to me but the deluxes seems to mainly have room entry from an interior corridor. Plus, the ambience felt noticably better at the deluxe. It just seems that the deluxes are more relaxing. Even the bus transports are easier because there are fewer people.

 

[RedBaron]

Like many have said, it all depends on what you want out of your trip. If you wanted to have a more leisurely trip with time by the pool relaxing and having breakfast and dinner at the hotel then I would say that Deluxe is the way to go. If like me, you get up and go to the parks every day and never go back for an afternoon break and get back to the resort to shower and go to bed, then it is not worth it. I have stayed at Deluxe resorts and loved the Wilderness Lodge. I almost thought of staying here when we go back in August, but at the end of the day I would have felt very guilty paying the extra money to stay there knowing that I was not using the resort. The hotel I have stayed at the most often (probably 5 times now) is POFQ and I love it there, so that is where we will be staying in August.

 

[Sans Souci]

This is going to get me in trouble but I'd rather rent a house or condo off sight than stay a a value if that's what my budget allowed that trip. We are open to close types so we don't use the resort except for sleeping. Can't wait to go without the kids to enjoy the resort for a change!

I don't see why anyone would give you grief over that. You like what you like, right? It's your vacation, no need to be apologetic about it! We used to stay off property in a condo and I miss it! We rent DVC points and the condo we used to rent was much nicer than any DVC unit.

Now we stay at either BCV or BWV. The ability to walk to two parks is worth it. I have a son who is on the autism spectrum, so that little bit of room and minimizing time spent on a bus is worth it. We don't spend all day at the parks and my son will happily spend all of his time either in a pool or at Typhoon Lagoon.

 

[Figgy1]

I don't see why anyone would give you grief over that. You like what you like, right? It's your vacation, no need to be unapologetic about it! We used to stay off property in a condo and I miss it! We rent DVC points and the condo we used to rent was much nicer than any DVC unit. One of my ds is also that's the main reason I avoid values like the plague

Now we stay at either BCV or BWV. The ability to walk to two parks is worth it. I have a son who is on the autism spectrum, so that little bit of room and minimizing time spent on a bus is worth it. We don't spend all day at the parks and my son will happily spend all of his time either in a pool or at Typhoon Lagoon.

One of my sons is also on the spectrum. That's the main reason we avoid values like the plague!

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Some people have more money than others and the expense doesn't matter. Some people save up for years to be able to stay in a Deluxe. It all depends on what someone wants..

That would be me. I've saved for years for my upcoming trip, staying at the Poly. And it's actually my first WDW trip... again, the saving part. I could have taken a trip last year and stayed value, with minimal days and time in parks, but chose to save instead for this!

I'm not the norm, though. Plus, it seems most everyone here is a well seasoned veteran.

 

[GTIDMB]

We have stayed at value, moderate, and deluxe resorts and have enjoyed them all for different reasons. It really does depend on your preferences and time spent at the resort. When looking at it from a financial standpoint, another thing to consider is renting DVC points. We have done that several times now, and the price to rent a studio villa at one of the deluxe resorts can actually end up being cheaper than staying at a moderate resort paying the Disney rack rate. I'm not sure we'd be staying at deluxe resorts if not for the deals we get by renting points. We are going for a weekend trip in a few weeks and staying at Pop Century. Then we're going for our "full" vacation (8nights) in June and we're renting points at Beach Club Villas. I think we're looking forward to both equally, but for different reasons.

 

[DisneyJunkie]

I think the bulk of the matter is how much $$$ you are able to spend. If it's not really an issue, then you'll probably look only at the deluxe resorts. Another point - which some have mentioned - is how much time you think you'll actually be spending at the resort. For us, other than sleeping there (and maybe eating too), we're out at the parks. Then, there's the location that could be of importance. For us, we spend most of our time at the MK so we prefer to be close to it. We have stayed at the Poly 3 times and WL 3-4 times now. Biggest perk to the Poly is the monorail. Biggest to the WL is the boat that can take you to the MK AND the fact that it's the cheapest of the MK area resorts.

 

[Stellajack]

DH was looking at video of Port Orleans yesterday and we loved the look of it but it is a big resort and one thing we like about the deluxes is that they are don't seem as large, you can go from building to building to pool etc with not such a long walk, location just can't be beat to be able to walk to another resort or hop on the monorail, take a boat to us was key in younger days with our son, as for theming I think that is pretty much the same as like I said Port Orleans is gorgeous but I have to admit the GF and AKL are my favorites.

Did you note that Port Orleans has 5 'quiet pools' in addition to Ol' Man Island? This is one of the 'like' factors for us at POR, you are never far away from a pool. One of our close friends (also a Disney fanatic) booked Wilderness Lodge for a week on one trip, even though POR was their family favorite. She was disappointed by the noise factor at WL and said that the walls seemed so thin that it was not very peaceful (children screaming/crying, etc.) They did not think the $$$ difference was worth it.

At POR while you can't take a boat to a park, you can take the water taxi to DTD.

 

[Semantje]

As a matter of interest.You get a better rate of exchange if you square up your bill at the end of your vacation ( resort concierge ) in one transaction on your Visa / MasterCard.By using your Key of the World card to purchase food,drink,souvenirs,etc.We got around 10 cents better on every $1.00. So after 14 days our bill was around $1.500. But instead of $1.52 to a British pound,we got a rate of $1:62 to every £1.00. It's worth thinking about.

So you think it's better not to put money on the creditcard before we leave? Of course we have to pay our package on forehand and it exceeds our limit on the cc big time. Our plan was to put the money we save for souvenirs, drinks etc. and put it on the cc.

We do want the key to the world to connect with our CC. Or are they just gonna put the bill to your room and the pay with the cc at check out?

 

[real mad hatter]

Your Key of the world card can be paid cash or c.c. At the end of your trip..Example.We had about £1200.00 ($1.700) to spend.So instead of converting it all to $$$$$ we just took about $100.00 in notes,and put the rest of British pounds in our UK savings bank.Therefore we used our Key/Card all the time at WDW.So we payed our bill on the last day with our Visa Card in one transaction.We reckon we saved around £200.00 ($350.00) for our 14 night vacation. 3 ADRS including a signature were also on our card.

 

[sgtmgd]

Hmmmm..good question...I prefer deluxe resorts as they are infinately more "comfortable" IMO. What I mean is that Disney is a rat race...pure and simple...you usually have so much to do in a limited time. Sleep for me is at a premium..I wont get alot of it..but what I do get I want to be "comfortable" the difference in beds between Mods and deluxes are again IMO monumental..I also like to sit back and "unwind" after a long day/night at eh parks...and nothing relaxes me more than sitting on a balcony overlookig the Boardwalk at night..or sunrise...the other amenities the deluxes offer are also nice..in particular the trinity of Boardwalk/Yacht/Beach...lots to see...easy walk to EPcot or DHS...or catch a boat to either...or the the Busses...The Mods dont offer that to me...we enjoyed the POFQ..the room was a King witch are all on the corners of the buildings and overlooked the Sass river...it was "nice" but bed was "hard..almost plastic feeling..not terrible..just not what I prefer.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

For us it has been room size, balcony, resort size, dining options (ts) in close proximity, and just how close the deluxe resorts are to their corresponding park. The mods could work for us if we were in a bind...but we appreciate and take full advantage of the noted deluxe perks. We also prefer a WDW trip where not every day is at the parks....so it's nice to have the extras on our downtime.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Other than AoA hallways, isn't the Outside/Inside room door one of the main physical differences among the resort levels?

 

[MouseDreaming]

I think it is more of a different strokes for different folks kind of thing. We ran into a business associate of my DH's one trip, and he asked where we were staying. DH said POFQ, we love it there. This guy said they tried not staying at Contemp, and hated POR, and they switched back to Contemp. Main complaint...open hallways. Which happens to be my favorite part. I love waking up in the morning, knowing I am stepping right into a pretty picture. The halls in the deluxes I've walked through feel claustrophobic to me.

 

[Gabe1]

I've only stayed at a value once. Moderates the majority of the time and mostly POR. Deluxe here and there for short trips.The price point of the moderate allowed our family of 4 to stay for two weeks instead of one week throughout their childhood annually. As much as I love the deluxe hotels the trade off of one week or two weeks was a no brainer to us.

And of all the Deluxes we stayed at I'd take POR over the Contemporary anytime, the theming of POR grounds over the high tourist crowd in the Contemporary and the squished grounds, POR was a clear winner in that comparison.